WNBA legends Nancy Lieberman and Sheryl Swoopes have ended their friendship over their differing takes on Indiana Fever rookie phenom Caitlin Clark.
Swoopes, 53, previously questioned the legitimacy of Clark's record as the all-time NCAA leading scorer, claiming she had a fifth year to break it. Lieberman, 66, the namesake for NCAA women's basketball's top individual award, which was won by Clark during her last three seasons at the University of Iowa, told Stephen A. Smith that she confronted Swoopes, which upset her former longtime friend.
“I called her as a friend and I said ‘you can say whatever you want … but you do have to get the statistics right. I mean, facts matter … It’s ok to have a difference of opinions,” Lieberman said during an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
“She got upset with me on the phone and I was like, ‘Sheryl, I’m not doing anything to hurt you.’ … So our relationship pretty much is not happening at this point. I tried to talk to her at the Final Four, she didn’t want to talk to me. My life is going to be good or great with or without Sheryl Swoopes in my life. I’d rather have her in it.”
Swoopes has been one of the most vocal critics of Clark amid her emergence as women's basketball's top college star and the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft -- which has led to a historic spike in viewership and revenue for the WNBA -- and had previously feuded with Smith over the Clark discourse prior to Lieberman's appearance on his show.
“Now here you go! I get what you trying to do wit ya boy @stephenasmith but it ain’t working,” Swoopes wrote, re-sharing the clip of Lieberman on the Stephen A. Smith Show, on her X account. “You know good and well what happened. And ditto…my life is good without you too (and him). You wanna go there?”
Swoopes then shared a separate post once again asking Smith to "bring me on your show! With or without your backup @NancyLieberman."
Clark is the favorite to win the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year award, averaging 18.7 points, 8.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds, leading the Fever to a 17-16 record, currently in the sixth playoff seed.
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